|
|
|
|
|
|
Spockie-Tech
Site Admin
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia
|
Make sure you grind up plenty of tungsten tips and have them handy
They take a bit of work to grind, being so hard, get quite hot doing so requiring gloves, and if you are using Thoriated (mildly radioactive) tungstens, you dont want to breathe the dust. Theyre not deadly dangerous or they wouldnt sell them, The tiny amount (3-4%) of Thorium only slowly decays into Alpha particles which skin will easily stop, but you probably dont want to accumulate a lungful which a professional welder might do if not warned not to.
Lots of differing opinions on what type (ceriated, lanthanated, etc) is best for what current range and AC/DC welding. Jody has some thoughts, but it seems theres a lot of arguments on all sides. Use what you like
Regardless of what you're using, you'll probably dip it in the weld pool a few times (or often) while you develop the feel, and having a few ground spares on hand ready to go will keep you moving along practicing if you dont have to stop and regrind each time.
I find that if you only have a small amount of contamination on the tip from an accidental dip, and not a great big blob, you can get away with continuing to weld without the arc quality deteriorating noticeably.
Also once you do get a round blob on there, the arc does wander around more, but you can also quite often get most of it off simply by welding on something until the tungsten is red hot, stopping and quickly tapping the torch handle (not the tip) against something hard while the tungsten is still red hot. The molten contamination will fly off, much like clearing a soldering iron tip with a tap.
Definitely not recommended for quality welds on a final product, but while you are just practicing on mild steel, a tap clear is a lot quicker than replacing the tungsten to keep you going while you develop the feel of maintaining a tight arc without dipping all the time. _________________ Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people
|
Wed Nov 25, 2015 5:00 pm |
|
|
|
|
|
Spockie-Tech
Site Admin
Joined: 31 May 2004
Posts: 3160
Location: Melbourne, Australia
|
I use Thoriated for everything as well.. I tried the white ones (cant remember what they are), and didnt notice any difference, but Im all DC/Steel at the moment.
Good point on the blobbing both ends, I didnt think of that, but you could tap the blob off as I described.
Not dipping is pretty easy with just a little practice when you are sitting at the bench all comfy with the parts nicely viced up in front of you.
Its a bit harder when you are upside down welding on the underneath of a tricycle frame (which Ive been building some of) attaching some bracket. Not quite practical to mount the whole mostly assembled frame on the bench upside down.
As they say, the most important thing for good quality consistent welds, is to be comfortable. but its not always possible.. a friend of mine used to be a certified pipe welder and he told me some horror stories about overhead stick welding pipes while hanging 50ft in the air from a sling, cos thats what the installation job required.
Its nice when you can make Tig Welding a desk job, but not all jobs work out like that. _________________ Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people
|
Wed Nov 25, 2015 5:27 pm |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|